When War Came the Peace Corps Left, Sadly

Special to The New York Times

Published: March 3, 1991

WASHINGTON, March 2—
Seven weeks ago, John Teeple was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tiflet, Morocco, helping rural women run a beekeeping cooperative.

Though six months remained in his stint, he is in Portland, Ore., today, supporting himself on a Peace Corps "readjustment" payment and interviewing for entry-level jobs in sales and management training.

Mr. Teeple, 24 years old, is one of 380 volunteers evacuated by the Peace Corps from six Islamic countries -- Yemen, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Pakistan and Tanzania -- after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2.

The volunteers were torn from their work, friends and communities, sometimes on only a few hours' notice. Some were flown to other countries to wait out the problems. Others were separated from the agency and dropped back into American life to pick up where they could.

With the cease-fire, the agency says that it hopes to resume the programs, but that reestablishing the programs and addressing new questions could take months. "My guess is, we'll see volunteers return to some of the countries before the summer is out," said the agency's director, Paul Coverdell.The decision to withdraw surprised and even angered volunteers who felt they were in no immediate danger. 'I Was Shocked'

"When I first got the message, I was shocked," said Kristin Lamson, a 24-year-old former economics and management teacher in Tanzania. "I thought it was a joke. I didn't feel I was in any danger at all."

The agency addressed some of that anger in debriefing sessions here after the volunteers returned. Kathleen Corey, a program and training officer who helped organize the sessions, said she believed they had been helpful.

About 25 volunteers have been moved to other countries so far, and others have been urged to reapply. But the long application and training process has discouraged some of them, and many of those who had little time left in their two-year terms do not want to rejoin.

In the hope that the programs can be reactivated, the agency has kept open the Peace Corps offices in the suspended countries. But Mr. Coverdell acknowledged that the agency, once "one of the United States' most visible contingents in the Islamic world," was virtually nonexistent there today.

Jerry Leach, director of the agency's region that encompasses the Pacific, Asia, Central Europe and the Mediterranean, said: "We're going to start examining the question of how to start these programs again, and ultimately have more successful programs."

Some people who returned worry that regaining the trust of the people will make restarting the programs harder for the next volunteers. 'A Lot of Talk'

"When you are trying to establish your credibility, there's a lot of talk and questioning," Mr. Teeple said in an interview before the cease-fire. "I'm sure what they're seeing on their TV's is the bombing of civilians. They are going to show crying women, dead women and dead children. It's going to be a tougher job."

Chanel De Laney, a 24-year-old former English teacher in Rabat, Morocco, said that although the programs could be resumed, the ground gained through daily contact with Americans will have been lost. "On a personal level," she said, "it was important for us to be there, to show that we weren't George Bush, or our Congressmen -- we were Americans."

The evacuations are occurring at the same time that the Peace Corps is undergoing the largest expansion in years. Agency plans have called for adding 24 countries from April 1989 to January 1992.

For now, though, the suspensions have been difficult for the former volunteers. "The hardest thing was not being able to say goodbye to my Moroccan family and friends. They were the most wonderful people I've ever known," said Ms. De Laney.

"When I came home," said Mr. Teeple, "I was homesick for Morocco. It's your life and your job. The satisfaction in the line of work we were doing -- I really felt like I was doing something."